


Gradual Fate

by pterawaters



Series: 31 Day H50 Challenge 2016 [8]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Triad Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 14:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6288352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve finds his first soulmate at nineteen. He finds his second at thirty-five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gradual Fate

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of my 31 Day H50 Challenge, for which I'm aiming to post a short piece or chapter each day of the month. ([My 31 day challenge on tumblr](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/tagged/ptera%27s-31-day-h50-challenge-2016/chrono)). This AU is based on [this scerek fic](http://sleepy-skittles.tumblr.com/post/141186556602/while-were-talking-about-soulmate-aus-soulmate) where when one soulmate gets a tattoo, it shows up on the other soulmate magically. 
> 
> This fic was also written for [Triad Verse Week](http://triadverse.tumblr.com/post/140942307624/triadverse-triadverse-the-votes-are-in-and), Day 6: Your Favorite AU. Right now this soulmate thing is my favorite! Triad Verse is an AU in which triads (relationships of three people) are normalized, rather than couples. You can read a FAQ about Triad Verse [here](http://triadverse.tumblr.com/post/86154454124/triad-verse-faq).

Steve is nineteen when his first soulmate tattoo appears. It shows up on his hip and he has to use a mirror to clearly see that it's a small dolphin wearing a sailor's hat. He grins and starts asking around Annapolis for anyone who has a match. Louise Meyer tells him that her friend Catherine got a dolphin tattoo the week before. Steve finds Catherine in the mess and slides a Polaroid of his tattoo over the table toward her. Catherine's mouth drops open, and then she looks up at Steve, smiling through her astonishment. "I never thought it would work!"

Steve grins. "You want to compare in private? Make sure they're the same?"

"Oh, yeah," Catherine says, holding out her hand. "C'mon. My bunk is empty."

~*~

Steve sits for the next tattoo, Catherine looking over his shoulder as he picks it out. "This one," he says, pointing to a stylized sunrise. "It reminds me of home."

Catherine coos and says, "It's perfect. Where do you think it should go?"

"Over my heart," Steve decides with a nod. "That's where it belongs."

He gets the tattoo, and it's not nearly as painful as some of his friends have made it out to be. Still, Catherine sits next to him and holds his hand. "What do you think our soulmate is like?" She shifts in her seat and throws her hair back over her shoulder. "When do you think we'll find them?"

"I don't know," Steve says. He's got this picture in his head, but it's hard to describe, and even harder to fit the people he's met into it. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

~*~

Steve is twenty seven when his next tattoo appears. It's a name in small letters on the inside of his left wrist. "Grace." 

He calls Catherine as soon as he sees it. "Do you think that's her name?" he asks.

"Yeah, maybe," Catherine says, her voice tinny through the satellite link. She's on the Enterprise, headed back toward the middle east, while Steve is in Coronado. It's been almost six months since they've seen each other, but Steve isn't worried about the distance. He and Catherine are soulmates. It's fate that they'll end up together.

"I'll take a picture and add it to our listing," Steve says. He knows it's almost impossible to find your soulmate through the tattoo listings online, and that they're going to meet their third when fate thinks they're ready. 

"We'll find them," Catherine assures Steve. "Eventually."

~*~

Steve is thirty-five years old when he meets Danny Williams. He notices that there is a tattoo on Danny's inner wrist, but he can't read the word. Steve knows it's a common place to get a tattoo, and he's gotten his hopes up too many times before, so he doesn't think much of it. He's got more important things to think about, like finding his father's murderer.

After he leaves his father's house, evidence in hand, Steve calls Catherine. "I may have done something rash."

"How rash are we talking?" Catherine asks, clearing her throat. 

Steve confesses in a rush. "I transferred into the reserves and took a job here in Hawaii." He holds his breath waiting for Catherine's reply.

She sighs and says, "I suppose there are worse places to settle down. You couldn't have talked to me first?"

"Sorry," Steve says, wincing and pushing his hand back through his hair. "It was kind of time-sensitive." Trying to be hopeful, he says, "I've heard Pearl is a good place to serve."

Chuckling, Catherine says, "It's a good thing you're so cute. Otherwise I would be way better at saying no to you."

Steve grins. "I'll put in a good word for you with the local brass."

~*~

It's official. Steve needs help with this investigation. He decides the outsider detective is least likely to be involved in the corruption his father had been investigating. He's the only one here Steve can trust. 

With the governor's blessing, Steve goes to Danny's captain, gets the case file, and permission to commandeer Danny for the foreseeable future. Halfway through talking through the case with Danny, Danny takes three quick steps toward Steve and grabs Steve's hand. 

Steve fights the instinct to defend himself against attack when he realizes Danny is reading his soul tattoo.

"When did you get this?" Danny demands, rubbing the tattoo like he's determined to prove it's just marker. 

"Eight years ago," Steve replies, holding out his hand until Danny surrenders his own wrist. 

Danny's wrist says, "Grace," in the same five letters Steve has been staring at for eight years. 

Steve chuckles and says, "Catherine and I thought maybe it was your name."

"My daughter," Danny explains, shivering as Steve runs his hand over Danny's wrist. "I never felt the need to get one until she was born."

Steve nods, watching Danny's face as he contemplates the tattoo. After a moment, curiosity gets the better of him. "You have the other ones, too, right?"

Danny nods, and then smirks. "Which one do you want to compare first?"

"Hip?" Steve asks, hand dropping to the fly of his pants. 

Laughing (so beautifully Steve's heart almost stops), Danny shakes his head. "Slow up, soldier. I'm not that kind of girl." He loosens his tie, a dark look in his eyes that tells Steve maybe he _is_ that kind of girl. "Chest first?"

"Okay." Steve pulls his overshirt from his shoulders, and then rucks up his t-shirt, exposing the sunrise over his heart. "So?"

Smiling, Danny unbuttons his shirt, then pulls the collar of his tank-style undershirt down far enough that Steve can see his matching tattoo. "They match."

Ecstatically happy, Steve can't help but laugh. "That one's mine."

"Really?" Danny says, letting go of his collar. "I kinda figured you were more of a dolphin man."

Steve laughs and pulls his shirt back down. He undoes the button at his fly and pulls down the side of his pants and boxers to expose the dophin. "This one is Catherine's. She had just enrolled at Annapolis when she got it."

"Ah, that explains the sailor hat," Danny says, exposing his own hip. Danny's dolphin is a perfect match for Steve's. "What's she like?"

"Oh, she's great," Steve insists, buttoning his pants and pulling on his overshirt. "Funny. Beautiful. Amazing in bed." Snapping his fingers, Steve says, "We should call her!" He pulls his phone out of his pocket and quickly picks Catherine from the top of his favorites list. 

"Amazing in bed?" Danny repeats with a laugh that sounds almost embarrassed. Steve thinks the way Danny's cheeks go pink is adorable.

When Catherine answers, Steve says, "You'll never guess who I found."

"Jimmy Hoffa?" Catherine replies. She sounds sleepy, like Steve woke her up, which he probably did. It's the middle of the night in her time zone.

Steve laughs at Catherine's joke and says, "No, I found our third! Here. I'm sending you a picture."

Switching away from the phone app, Steve picks the camera and pulls Danny close, saying, "Smile!" He takes a picture of both of them and texts it to Catherine. He switches back to the phone and tells her, "You should get that in a minute. His name is Danny. Grace is his daughter!"

"Just … what?" Catherine says, her voice confused. Steve supposes he has been dumping a lot of information on her right after waking her up. "Our third? Hang on." After a moment, Catherine comes back on the line, her voice brighter this time. "He's cute! He's really ours?"

"Yeah." Steve grins at Danny, who looks even more pink. "Do you want to talk to him?"

"Sure, yeah!" Catherine says, and even though Danny's eyes are wide and he's trying to wave off the phone, Steve holds it to his ear.

Steve stands back, watching Danny talk to Catherine. Primarily he appears to be answering Catherine's questions, which amuses Steve, because from what he's seen of Danny, Danny certainly has the strength of personality to question her right back if he wanted to. Maybe he thinks he's being polite. The thought makes Steve chuckle into his hand and look away.

Finally, Danny hands the phone back to Steve, who takes it. "Hey."

"I'm going to talk to my CO about emergency leave," Catherine tells him. "It might take a few weeks, though. Under no circumstances are you to fool around with Danny at all before I get there. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Steve says. "Though maybe you could let me know exactly where the line is. Am I allowed to kiss him?"

Danny coughs like he's choking.

"No tongue," Catherine replies, and Steve figures that's a good compromise. If Catherine had found their third first, Steve thinks he'd insist on similar rules.

"Got it." Steve replies. "Let me know when you're coming. I'll pick you up at the airport. In the meantime, Danny and I should get back to work."

Catherine laughs so hard her phone clatters like she dropped it. When she comes back on the line, she says, "Of _course_ you're working with him. Fate knows you would never have met either of us if we didn't share a workplace."

"I love you, too," Steve says with a chuckle, hanging up on Catherine. She's laughing too hard to care that he hasn't said goodbye.

"She seems nice," Danny says, in good humor despite how obviously he's overwhelmed with the situation.

Steve looks at the case file on Danny's table, and the reminder of why he came back to Hawaii hits him like ice water. It's unnerving to feel this happy and this full of grief all at the same time. He turns to Danny and asks, "So, will you help me find the man that killed my father?"

Danny sticks his lower lip out, like he's thinking over everything that's just happened. Eventually he meets Steve's eyes and says, "Yeah. Let's find the bastard who did this."

Grinning, Steve says, "We're gonna get along great," and he knows he's absolutely right. After all, meeting Danny now, right when Steve needs him, is fate.


End file.
